and a Soil suitable to its Culture. 11 



tion, which I do not consider well suited for so poor a soil, 

 although it is often adopted here. A section of a stone-pit gives 

 the following : First 6 inches, rather dark cultivated soil ; 

 below this, 2 feet of a somewhat lighter soil ; below this, 10 feet 

 of yellow sand, resting on sandstone rock. 



With regard to the crops generally grown here, I may say 

 wheat and barley are the favourites. A fair crop of peas may be 

 grown occasionally, but the land does not bear a repetition of 

 this crop for a long time. Clovers may be grown once in eight or 

 ten years. Sainfoin generally takes well, and yields good crops 

 when top-dressed with road-scrapings and yard-manure. Carrots 

 are well suited to the soil. Above all, turnips grow to perfection 

 if the land is well prepared and well manured for them ; super- 

 phosphate appears to be the most suitable manure. On these 

 sands, after they have been in cultivation for some years, turnips 

 grow well, and are not subject to the disease of anbury ; but in 

 some places, on newly cultivated land, they fail altogether. On 

 land where turnips are attacked by anbury, the plants generally 

 look healthy and well until the time of hoeing ; the leaves then 

 turn pale or yellow, and the roots seldom get bigger than a 

 finger. 



As you wish to know how the field was cultivated and cropped 

 previous to the lupines being planted, I will give you an account 

 of the last five years : In 1856 it was in clover, unrnanured. 

 1857, wheat, top-dressed with 1J cwt. Peruvian guano per acre. 

 In the autumn the stubble was pared and cleaned, and winter 

 vetches drilled ; these were top-dressed with 10 2-horse cart-loads 

 of yard-manure to an acre. 1858, vetches, eaten on the land by 

 sheep. After the sheep the land was cultivated with a broad- 

 share, cleaned, ploughed with a shallow furrow, and turnips drilled 

 with 3 cwt. superphosphate. The turnips having been eaten on 

 the land by sheep having hay, the land was next ploughed as 

 shallow as possible. 1859, the broadshare passed across the 

 furrows, and barley drilled. 1860, 10 2-horse cart-loads of well- 

 made pig-manure applied to the acre in the last week of March, 

 and ploughed in with a furrow 4 inches deep ; the lupines drilled 

 on the 3rd of April in rows 13 inches apart ; 1J bushel of seed 

 per acre. 



Three weeks passed before the plants made their appearance 

 aboveground, and then only a few came up. On the 1st of 

 May they were so thin on the ground that I quite despaired of a 

 crop ; however, they continued to increase in numbers, and at 

 the end of six weeks from the time of planting there were enough. 

 I am informed by a seedsman that the yellow lupine is always a 

 long time coining up ; but I may mention that in this instance 



